One day after young American forward Jozy Altidore scored the winning goal against Guadaloupe, Emmons broke down Altidore’s MLS, U.S. national team and European-league goals.

Although some have complained about Altidore’s production for the U.S. national team, it’s interesting that his scoring rate for the USMNT is not far off what it was in MLS yet tremendously higher than it has been in Europe.

Emmons stats: “In 37 games with the national team, Altidore has scored 12 goals, an average of one goal every 3.08 games. He also played 37 games for the NY Red Bulls and scored 15 goals, an average of one per 2.47 games. In his professional career overseas, he has played 49 total games and has scored three times, an average of once every 16.3 games.”

You would expect that it’s much easier to score on the keeper from the Guadaloupes of the world, and threre’s no denying the goalkeepers playing in European Leagues are much better than the overall crop in MLS.

But should there be such a dramatic difference?

What do you think?

The Gold Cup semifinals will be held next Wednesday at Reliant Stadium, which already has sold 40,000 tickets for the event even though we still don’t know which teams will participate. If the U.S. reaches the semifinals, they’re already guaranteed to play before their biggest crowd of the tournament when they get here to Reliant.

By the way, I’ll stick with my prediction that the U.S. will reach the finals of the Gold Cup.

4 Responses

I would be more interested to see who Altidore scored his goals for the national team against. I would bet 9 or 10 of the 12 came against central american or carribean teams. Not exactly powerhouses in world soccer.

A lil bit off topic, but the schedule has the winners of saturdays quarterfinal matches playing at 6 pm at reliant on wednesday. If that was the case, most likely Mexico would be playing at 6 pm instead of 9 pm? Do you think the Gold Cup organizers would switch schedule up and have sundays winners playing at 6 pm and saturdays winners playing at 9pm?

I would be interested to see a comparison of his goals in terms of distance from the net. I have been frustrated for years with the US team on offense, not just Altidore. They constantly pass up shots from 18 to 25 yards out in an attempt to get extremely close. When you watch the “big boys” of the international scene, they are constantly putting the ball on goal from distance. We all know that this can create some lucky bounces and other rewards for the offense, I just don’t know why the US feels that they have to be in the 6 yard box to score. Hopefully Altidore will now realize that he won’t get penalized for shooting from distance. By the way, I can not remember seeing a shot hit as hard as that goal against Guadloupe. Even on slow motion it was a rocket.

1. Appearances aren’t minutes. A late game substitute for his club is just as much an appearance as starting for Team USA. But, starting a game gives him 90+ minutes of goalscoring opportunity versus say, subbing in for the last 15 minutes of a game that’s in the bag.

2. Team quality relative to quality of opponent. League games are much closer affairs than your usual USA v. Trinidad (AND Tobago!) CONCACAF matchup.

3. Does Altidore play the same position for club and country? I don’t know, but players often don’t. Different positions come with different scoring expectations. Altidore plays striker for USA because we’re thin there. If Altidore can’t crack the rotation at his club as a striker, the club may try to get its money’s worth from him as a deep forward, outside mid, etc. If Altidore couldn’t crack the rotation at USA, he wouldn’t get called up at all (so no appearance). But if he couldn’t crack the rotation at his club, they’d try to find a place for him since they’re paying him.

4. Strategy and lineups. USA likes the 4-4-2, with Altidore (or Ching, Bedoya, Gomez) up top and a deeper forward (Dempsey, Donovan, etc.). I don’t know how his club lines up, but their shape will make a difference in his production.

5. It could be him. He’s BMOC with Team USA, not so much in Europe. Strikers are the most affected by hot and cold streaks, self confidence, and feel for the game. Lots and lots of US forwards have had mediocre careers overseas, assuming they’re good enough to leave (e.g. Eddie Johnson, Adu, Altidore). Most don’t even generate interest abroad.

6. Chemistry and familiarity. Strikers need service. The US players know Altidore’s strengths (are there any?), weaknesses, and preferences from playing and training with him. His club SHOULD know, but if he’s transferred and loaned around, playing with the 2nd team, not speaking Turkish, it’s harder to get your midfielders (whoever they are this week) to recognize that you like to receive the ball overhead on the run, or with your back to the goal at your right foot, etc. Or maybe your teammates or manager don’t care for you too much and don’t put you in a position to score. Diego Forlan was being frozen out by his manager in the lineup, and then starved of the ball by his own teammates on the field.